Welcome back to your daily memorandum talking tech, business, AI, markets, and more. 🗞️

In today’s edition we are tackling the following:

🧠 Apple’s top AI models executive has left to join Meta’s new lab.
📉 Dollar suffers steepest H1 drop since 1973 amid trade uncertainty.
🤝 Netanyahu and Trump meet in D.C. as Gaza ceasefire talks continue.
💀 Russian official dies by gunshot hours after Kremlin-linked dismissal.
📚 OpenAI tests ‘Study Together’ to shift ChatGPT toward academic use.

TECHNOLOGY

• Apple loses its top AI models executive to Meta’s hiring spree

  • Ruoming Pang, who led Apple’s AI models team, left to join Meta’s superintelligence lab.

  • He oversaw 100+ engineers building features like Genmoji, email summarization, and Siri improvements.

  • The move highlights Meta’s aggressive poaching of top AI talent from rival tech firms.

• Apple appeals EU €500 million fine over App Store rules

  • Apple is challenging a €500 million fine over EU allegations of anti-competitive App Store practices.

  • The company claims the EU misinterpreted its rules and introduced confusion for users and developers.

  • Apple updated policies to avoid further penalties but will contest the definition of platform ‘steering.’

• xAI updated Grok to be more politically incorrect

  • Grok’s latest update allows politically incorrect views as long as they are deemed factually accurate.

  • The change has sparked backlash after Grok generated controversial and offensive responses on sensitive topics.

  • Elon Musk says the update aims to reduce bias, but critics warn that it will enable harmful misinformation.

BUSINESS

• Global markets slip as U.S. tariff uncertainty rattles investors

  • Asian and U.S. futures dipped amid fuzzy tariff signals from Washington and delayed implementation until August 1.

  • Oil prices slid after OPEC+ unexpectedly raised output for August, pressuring U.S. shale profitability.

  • Treasuries and safe-haven assets gained as investors reshuffled amid inflation and trade policy uncertainty.

• U.S. dollar posts worst first-half return in 52 years as headwinds mount

  • The dollar fell about 10.7 % through June, its steadiest decline since 1973 amid tariff-driven volatility.

  • Uncertainty over U.S. deficits, economic policy, and interest rates further weakened the greenback.

  • Analysts warn pressures may persist into the second half with potential impacts on trade and investment flows.

• CoreWeave to acquire Core Scientific in a $9 billion all-stock deal

  • CoreWeave agreed to buy Core Scientific in an all-stock $9 billion transaction slated to close in Q4 2025.

  • The deal secures over 1 gigawatt of data-center power capacity, reducing lease costs and bolstering AI infrastructure muscle.

  • Both stocks slipped post-announcement amid dilution fears and market skepticism over valuation adequacy.

MARKETS

WORLD

• Netanyahu meets Trump at White House as Israel, Hamas discuss ceasefire

  • Trump and Netanyahu discussed plans for Gaza ceasefire negotiations and exploring Palestinian relocation options.

  • Indirect talks in Qatar continue aiming for phased hostage releases, Israeli troop withdrawal, and lasting war cessation.

  • Protests outside the White House denounced US support for Israel amid the deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

• BRICS nations resist ‘anti‑American’ label after Trump tariff threat

  • BRICS leaders at the Brazil summit denied anti‑American intent after Trump suggested 10% tariffs on aligned nations.

  • China emphasized ‘win‑win cooperation’, while South Africa and Russia noted the bloc does not target any country.

  • India, Brazil, Indonesia, and Malaysia stressed that their economic policies remain independent and non‑ideological.

• Russian transport minister mysteriously found dead after being fired by Putin

  • Roman Starovoit, dismissed earlier that day, was found dead with a gunshot wound in his vehicle hours after firing.

  • Authorities treat the death as a likely suicide but the investigation remains open amid questions over timing.

  • His death follows a wave of sudden deaths among Russian officials, fueling speculation around Kremlin-linked motives.

CONTENT

• Solo founder, $80M exit, 6 months

  • Maor Shlomo bootstrapped Base44 to 400,000 users and a $1M ARR in just 3 weeks.

  • His solo-founder journey included building in public, avoiding VC, and selling to Wix during a war.

  • He credits fast shipping, AI automation, and removing features for dramatically improving product activation.

• The Bag Man: How he bet his life savings on a bag business with ZERO experience

  • Dan Certner bought a bag company with seller financing, doubled revenue, and avoided startup failure.

  • He shares how negotiation, product obsession, and fun-to-run metrics guided his acquisition strategy.

  • Sam and Shaan break down why simple, cash-flowing businesses are often better than high-growth startups.

• François Chollet: How We Get To AGI

  • Chollet outlines why scaling current models won't lead to AGI without true adaptability and compositional reasoning.

  • He explains the ARC benchmark and how abstraction, novelty, and meta-learning are essential for general intelligence.

  • His new lab, Ndea, is building systems that reason on the fly and invent solutions beyond memorized training data.

FUTURISM

• ChatGPT is testing a mysterious new feature called ‘Study Together’

  • OpenAI is quietly testing a collaborative learning tool called Study Together for some paid ChatGPT users.

  • The feature hints at a shared study mode, potentially enabling co-learning, live interaction, or structured academic tasks.

  • It could help reposition ChatGPT toward more constructive educational use and discourage misuse like academic dishonesty.

• AI is forcing the data industry to consolidate

  • AI startups increasingly rely on high-quality data, fueling a wave of data vendor acquisitions and vertical integration.

  • Mergers solve data fragmentation but may reduce competition by concentrating power among tech giants and cloud providers.

  • Despite consolidation, many specialized AI data startups continue to emerge across sectors like health, finance, and logistics.

• The Birth‑Rate Crisis Is Even Worse Than You’ve Heard

  • Global fertility is declining faster than anticipated, with countries like Macau reaching record-low birth rates.

  • Demographic shifts are being driven by deeper cultural and psychological trends beyond simple economics or childcare policies.

  • The pace of population decline raises long-term concerns about workforce shortages, economic stagnation, and innovation slowdowns.

EXTRAS

• Cursor apologizes for unclear pricing changes that upset users

  • Cursor’s CEO admitted billing changes lacked clarity and led to unexpected charges for some subscribers.

  • The update introduced compute-based billing without clear thresholds, prompting refunds and further clarification promises.

  • The apology aims to rebuild trust as Cursor scales pricing amid growing competition in AI-assisted coding tools.

• Tesla loses about $1 billion in EV credits amid Musk-Trump regulatory fight

  • Tesla’s EV credit sales plunged due to U.S. policy shifts tied to Musk and Trump’s regulatory stance.

  • The drop erased roughly $1 billion in projected revenue tied to zero-emission vehicle mandates.

  • The change highlights growing policy risk for EV manufacturers reliant on transferable credits to maintain margins.

• TikTok works on new U.S.-specific app as sale or ban deadline nears

  • TikTok is building ‘M2,’ a U.S.-only version launching September 5, 2025, ahead of the divest-or-ban deadline.

  • A consortium led by Oracle and U.S. investors may take control, with ByteDance keeping a minority stake.

  • If the transition fails by March 2026, the current app may be removed, risking disruption for 170 million U.S. users.

AND MORE

• Sponsor in Memorandum and reach the inboxes that matter—before the meetings, before the coffee, before decisions get made.*

• Nvidia expands its footprint with a new AI research hub in India.

• Apple delays Vision Pro 2 launch, targets 2026 for next-gen headset release.

• Google Maps adds AI-powered wildfire alerts across high-risk U.S. regions this summer.

• France’s Atos plans AI services spinoff, eyes €1.8B valuation target.

• Binance announces full exit from Nigeria, following $10M penalty and regulatory ban.

• Explore Zoho CRM and transform your customer experience journey.*

• Meta launches AI sticker generator for Instagram and WhatsApp after the test phase's success.